Illuminated license plate



March 6, 1934- c. F. ALPERS ET AL ILLUMINATED LICENSE PLATE Filed May 14, 1932 67222350 22726)" 17145276115 6? M'Zlzkzm Haaezzbraa/i.

BY W

INVENTORS THEIR ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 6, 1934 UNITED STATES QFiCE ILLUMINATED LICENSE PLATE Application May 14, 1932, Serial No. 611,404

1 Claim.

This invention relates to certain novel improvements in illuminated license plates, and has for its principal object the provision of an improved construction of this character which will be highly efiicient in use and economical in manufacture.

Among the objects of this invention are: to provide an improved license plate structure for vehicles; to construct the license plate structure in such a manner that even though the Plate itself becomes dirty the license numbers may still be readily seen.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, showing the preferred form of construction and in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of our improved license plate structure;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view, partly in section, on line 2-2 in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on line 33 in Fig. 1.

In the drawing, which illustrates a preferred and practical embodiment of our invention, the same is indicated generally at and includes a housing 11 having an open side 12. Over the inside of the back wall 21 of the housing 11 we arrange a colored background plate 13. This plate 13 is held in place by retaining portions 15 that are made fast to the housing 11. Disposed between the retaining portions 15 and a flange 14 of the housing 11 is a non-transparent foreground plate 16 which extends over the open side 12 of the housing and in this plate 16 are cut the license numerals or indicia such as 17. The plates 13 and 16 are retained in position by means of supporting elements in the form of bolts 18 which likewise secure the structure 10 to a suitable supporting bracket 19.

Arranged within the housing 11 is a suitable illuminating element 20 which when lit illuminates the colored light-penetrable background plate 13 thereby causing the cut-out indicia 1'? to appear illuminated the color of the plate 13 since portions of the colored background plate 13 are visible through the cut-out indicia 17 when the element 20 is illuminated. The plates 13 and 16 may be colored any suitable colors to make the particular contrast desired by the officials of the State by which the license is issued, and the plate 13 may be removed and replaced when desired by removing the bolts 18.

The indicia 1'7 are clearly visible when the element 20 is lit, even though portions of the plate 13 may become dirty in use. The bottom side 23 of the housing 11 is open so that dirt may fall therethrough.

While we have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying our invention into eifect, this is capable of variation and modification, without departing from the spirit of the invention. We, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail ourselves of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described our invention what we Zi claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A vehicle license plate structure comprising the combination of a housing having an open front and an open bottom, a non-transparent foreground plate arranged over the open front and having cut-out portions providing license indicia, a colored background plate arranged in the housing parallel to and against the rear wall of the housing, said plates being insertible into and removable from said housing through said open bottom thereof so that background plates of difierent colors and foreground plates having different indicia may at different times be arranged in the housing and the color and combination of the cut-out license indicia be varied by changing the background and foreground plates respectively, and nut bearing supporting elements extending through the housing and providing connection between the plates and the casing and between the casing and the supporting bracket from which said casing is suspended.

CHRISTOPHER F. ALPERS. WILLIAM HASENBROOK. 

